political correspondent jon karl tonight. >> reporter: it's mother nature's october surprise. a storm so big and so destructive, it could throw the campaign's final week into chaos. >> the storm will throw a little bit of havoc into the race. >> reporter: for president obama, it meant canceling two upcoming campaign events and visiting fema headquarters, vowing an immediate response to the storm. >> we're going to cut through red tape, we're not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules. we want to make sure we are anticipating and leaning forward. >> reporter: there are political stakes, too. a chance for the president to show decisive leadership or to take the blame if the response is bungled. all told, 16 campaign events have already been canceled. mitt romney canceled three in virginia, moving westward to ohio, where he met up with paul ryan. >> today, when we get home, put in our prayers the people who are in the east coast, in the wake of this big storm that's coming. let's not forget those fellow americans of ours. >> reporter: with just nine days left, the race is as close as ever
